Toilet rack



Jan. 11, 1966 A. KIPNIS 3,228,737

TOILET RACK Filed June 29, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. ABRAHAM K I PNIS ATTORNEY/'5' A. KIPNIS Jan. 11, 1966 TOILET RACK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 29, 1964 NVENTOR ABRA AM Kl PM 15 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,228,737 TOILET RACK Abraham Kipnis, 108-36 64th Road, Forest Hills, N.Y. Filed June 29, 1964, Ser. No. 378,595 Claims. (Cl. 312206) This invention relates to a rack or wall support for holding various personal toilet articles such as tooth brushes, a razor, tooth paste and the like, usually in the vicinity of a wash stand.

It is customary while attending to the personal appearance for a person to make use of certain toilet articles. This is especially true in the morning and particularly with male persons. Certain tasks such as shaving or brushing the teeth must be done each day. Moreover, at this time of day, time is frequently short for attending to these things.

Such toilet articles as tooth brushes, shaving soap, razor, blades, styptic pencil, drinking glass and the like, are necessary for men in particular. These toilet items are generally kept in the vicinity of the bathroom washstand on separate racks, shelves, stands and in the medicine cabinet. As it frequently occurs, the various items for the morning toilet are scattered around in various locations, requiring time for their location. Because this takes place each morning and when time is generally short, it is a source of some annoyance and a waste of time.

It is, therefore, an object of my invention to provide an aid for readily locating personal toilet articles, and in particular those used in the morning, and thereby greatly facilitating the personal morning toilet.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a bathroom rack for personal toilet articles.

These and other objects of my invention will become apparent as the description thereof proceeds.

I have found that the above problems may be'overcome and the morning toilet greatly facilitated by the use of my invention which is a compact toilet rack for holding all of the essential toilet articles which are most frequently used, especially in the morning and by men. Because my rack is such an aid to the morning toilet, I look upon it as a morning butler. For the sake of illustration I make reference to my rack as used especially by men, but it will be obvious that it has application to any person.

Generally, the rack comprises an upper and lower shelf, with means at the back for mounting on a wall. The space between the shelves is divided into compartments, open at each side. Across the front, the shelves are closed, and means are provided for hanging tooth brushes and a razor. The tooth brush holders can be open or may form a single enclosed compartment or a plurality of such compartments.

My rack may be mounted on a wall by screws, adhesive or other suitable means. However, as an alternative, I may provide bolt means at the base of the rack for mounting on the conventional waterglass and tooth brush holder often found in a bathroom. My rack provides space for such items as tooth brushes, tooth paste tube, a razor, blades, styptic pencil, shaving cream and drinking glass. Thus, these items are located conveniently and neatly in one place. They do not clutter up the medicine cabinet or shelves, and there is no necessity for searching for them each time needed. Thus, my invention not only aids inthe performance of the morning toilet, but also improves the appearance of the bathroom.

The rack may be manufactured from any suitable material such as metal, wood, plastic or ceramic and in any suitable color. It is especially advantageous to form the rack by molding in one piece, for example, of plastic L shown in broken lines).

or ceramic. In this connection, the rack could be made as a one piece ceramic object and installed in newly constructed houses in the same manner as conventional waterglass or soap racks. It will, therefore, be seen that my invention is capable of varied, practical applications.

Referring to the drawings, which represent various embodiments of my invention, FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of my rack with enclosed toothbrush holders.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1, of the rack in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a top sectional view of the rack in FIG. 1, taken along the lines 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of an individual, enclosed type toothbrush holder;

FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of a rack with an outer casing;

FIG. 6 shows a partial cross-section of part of the rack of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of the rack of FIG. 5 with the outer case in a closed position;

FIG. 8 shows in perspective another embodiment of my rack with exposed toothbrush holders.

In FIG. 1, the toilet rack comprises a rear vertical wall member 1. Attached to member 1 are upper shelf 2 and a lower shelf 3, both substantially horizontal in relation to their use, and substantially parallel to one another. Front wall member 4 encloses the space between shelves 2 and 3.

On the front 4 is provided a tab 5 having an aperture 6 therethrough for inserting and hanging a razor. As shown, aperture 6 may be substantially circular in shape and there may be additional indentations 7 on opposite sides of aperture 6 for holding the razor (shown in broken lines) in a fixed position.

Also mounted on front Wall 4 is a plurality of toothbrush holders 3. Each tooth brush holder 8 is an enclosed structure, comprising a top 9, sides 10, bottom 11 and a hinged cover 12, pivoted on rod 13 in top 9. Top 9 may be a continuous member and form the top for all of the toothbrush holders 8, as may rod' 13. The bottom 11 has a slot 14 for inserting a toothbrush (as Sides 10 are sloped in their front edges as shown in FIG. 1, however, they could be vertical as shown in FIG. 4, which shows an individual toothbrush holder of a structure substantially the same as toothbrush holder 8, with a means for mounting.

Moreover, cover 12 could be continuous, to cover all of holders 8. In addition, sides 10 could be omitted to form one large compartment. As an alternative, cover 12 can be an inverted box shape pivoted at the end point 12A (see FIG. 4).

Between shelves 2 and 3, is provided a vertical divider 15 substantially parallel to the front wall 4 and back wall 1, forming an elongated compartment 16 between divider 15 and front wall 4 running the length of said front wall 4, the compartment being open at each end. The space between divider 15 and rear wall 1 is further divided by a perpendicular divider 17 (see FIG. 3) to form two smaller compartments 18 and 19, accessible from the respective open sides of the rack.

A rim 20 is provided around top shelf 2, to more easily contain articles resting thereon, and in certain instances'it is advantageous to provide depressions (not shown) in shelf 1 to further aid in containing articles, such as a drinking glass.

Where the rack is to be mounted on a wall, it may be mounted by various suitable means, such as screws through perforations 21 in back wall 1, or by adhesive on back wall 1, or the like.

In addition I have provided for mounting my rack on a conventional water glass and toothbrush holder 22 (see FIG. 2) such as is usually found in the bathrooms of most homes. This provides a convenient way of mounting my rack since a holder 22 is quite often available. For this type of mounting, my rack is provided with a slot 23 on thebottom of shelf 3, running substantially perpendicular to the rear wall 1 and near one side edge. Slot 23 has opening 24 at the rear and is closed at the front. Slot 23 is further formed so that a flared head or fiat head bolt 25 may be inserted, and moved forward or backward in the slot. For mounting the rack on holder 22, bolt 25 is inserted through one of the openings 26 in holder 22 for toothbrushes. A nut 27, of suitable material (preferably of a material and color similar to the rack) is turned onto bolt 25, until the rack is held fast. In this type of mounting, the Waterglass can be put on shelf 2, and holders 8 take care of the toothbrushes. Thus, a holder 22 provides a convenient mounting means, but its function is not lost.

In FIG. 8, the rack is basically similar to that in FIG. 1, except that the toothbrush holders are not enclosed. In FIG. 8, toothbrush holders 8B are formed by indentations 28 in a horizontal surface. Thus, toothbrushes may be hung by merely sliding them sideways into indentations 28. This is especially advantageous with toothbrushes having a rubber tuft on the handle, which makes it difficult for insertion through the usual perforated type holder. A vertical tab 29 is provided on the forward edge of each holder 8B for preventing the brush from sliding forward and off of the holder. The embodiment of FIG. 8 is especially advantageous for manufacture in a single piece, such as by plastic molding. This embodiment also may be formed readily from ceramic for permanent installation into newly constructed houses. In this case the rear wall will have a projection 27 corresponding to a standard size wall tile.

While I have stated that the rack of FIG. 8 has open toothbrush holders, it is also possible to have a unitary cover 30 for these holders as shown by the broken lines, which may be pivoted at point 31.

, As shown in the figures, may rack readily holdes a razor inholder 5, toothbrushes in holders 8, toothpaste in compartment 16, blades in compartment 19, and styptic pencil in compartment 18. A waterglass and can of shaving :cream may be placed on shelf 2. Thus, the'most essential toilet articles are conveniently and neatly located in one place.

It will be readily apparent that the toilet articles enumerated may be changed-to suit the individual. For example, compartment 16 could hold both a tube of toothpaste and a tube of shaving cream. Then a soap dish could be placed on shelf 2. Moreover, a deodorant, stick or bottle, could also be placed on shelf 2. In addition,

holders 16A and 16B can be provided on the rack of FIG. 1, for hanging a comb and brush at one end (see FIG. 3) as represented by the dotted lines. These would in general, constitute the majority of items needed by male persons during their personal morning toilet.

A further embodiment of my invention is a rack of the general type described above, but which may be used for traveling, that is a traveling butler.

In FIG. 5 rack 32 is generally similar to that in FIG. 1, and has rear wall 101, parallel shelves 102 and 103 and front wall 104. Sides 120 form a large compartment in combination with shelf 102. A divider wall 115 provides compartments 116 and 119.

On the front wall 104, a toothbrush holder 108, is pivotable and lockable (see FIG. 6). It will, of course, be understood that any other suitable type of toothbrush holder could be used. In addition, a pivotable and lockable tab 105 is provided for holding arazor, having a perforation 106 and indentations 107. Tab 105 could likewise have any other suitable form.

A casing 33 is provided which is aflixed to the lower side of shelf 103 and the rear wall 101. Casing 33 has side flaps 34 on each side with ends 34A, and top flap 35 with sections 35A and 3513 as an alternative, flaps 34 and 35 could be made of the same material as the shelves,

in which case, the flaps 34 are attached at the bottom side edges and flaps 35 is attached at the top of rear wall 101.

Casing 33 may be of any suitable plastic material, leather, cloth or the'like.

A hanger 36 is provided to hang the rack.

In FIG. 7, rack 32 is shown with the casing 33 in a closed position. Here, hanger 36 is folded over shelf 102, and tabs'105 and 108 are pivoted flat against front Wall 104. Side flaps 35 are folded up With ends 34A over shelf 102. Top flap 35 is folded over the top of shelf 102 with section 35A cover front wall 104 and section 35B overlapping the bottom of the casing and being secured with suitable closure devices 37 which may be snaps or the like. Thus, the rack forms a traveling case, where articles may be kept in the various compartments. The articles on shelf 102 will, of course, be placed in a lying position and will include the razor, toothbrush, and lotion, deodorant and the like.

When it is desired to use the traveling rack, flaps 35 and 34are opened as in FIG. 5, hanger 36 is raised and hooked over any convenient available wall support, and tabs 105 and 108 are raised to a horizontal position. It is only necessary then to place the toothbrush and razor in place in tabs 108 and 105, respectively, and stand up items on shelf 102. It will be seen that all items are thus located in one place and readily available, and that the items remain together both during use and traveling. My traveling kit is much more convenient than the conventional travel case in that it is compact, does not need a shelf area for support, is self supporting and provides support for toilet items. Furthermore, the rack may be left in the vicinity of a washstand, thus having all necessary toilet items in a central location.

Although I have described certain compartments, it will be obvious that other arrangements could be made. In fact, the partitions could be mounted in slots in the underside of shelf 2 and upperside of shelf 3, providing for various flexible arrangements.

While I have described certain specific embodiments of my invention for the sake of illustration, it will be obvious that the invention is not limited thereto and that various changes and modifications may be made Without departing from the spirit of the disclosure and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A toilet rack of unitary construction comprising a rear wall, a front wall, at least a pair of shelves attached substantially perpendicular to said rear wall, an intermediate divider between said pair of shelves and substantially parallel to said rear wall, at least one divider between said pair of shelves substantially perpendicular to said rear wall, said intermediate divider, said shelves and said divider forming a plurality of compartments accessible rom the sides and adapted to receive toilet articles, said front wall having attached thereto substantially horizontal indentation means having outward extension and adapted to receive toothbrushes and a substantially horizontal perforated tab adapted to receive a safety razor, and means to mount said rack on a wall.

2. The toilet rack of claim 1 wherein said means to mount said rack comprises at least one slot in the base of the lower shelf substantially perpendicular to said rear wall adapted to receive a bolt head.

3. The toilet rack of claim 1 wherein a' hinged cover is attached to said front wall adapted to enclose said substantially horizontal indentation means having outward. extensions adapted to receive toothbrushes.

4. The toilet rack of claim l'wherein one of said compartments is formed by said rear wall, said pair of shelves and said intermediate divider extends the entire distance of'said rear wall forming a long compartment adapted to receive a collapsible tube, said long compartment being accessible from one side of saidrack, the opposite side being enclosed by a bracket means adapted to receive a comb and a brush.

5. The toilet rack of claim 1 wherein said substantial- 1y horizontal indentation means having outward extension has upward extensions at the extremities of said outward extensions, said outward and upward extensions adapted to receive and retain toothbrushes.

References Cited by the Examiner 1,952,937 3/1934 Pilato 312207 1/1936 Spinks 312207 X 7/1940 Hanni 312--207 X 5/1950 Licari 312207 9/1950 Pratt 312207 X 3/1951 Cerniglia 312207 FOREIGN PATENTS 1876 Great Britain. 5/ 1929 Great Britain. 7/1957 Great Britain.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Exammer. 

1. A TOILET RACK OF UNITARY CONSTRUCTION COMPRISING A REAR WALL, A FRONT WALL, AT LEAST A PAIR OF SHELVES ATTACHED SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO SAID REAR WALL, AN INTERMEDIATE DIVIDER BETWEEN SAID PAIR OF SHELVES AND SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID REAR WALL, AT LEAST ONE DIVIDER BETWEEN SAID PAIR OF SHELVES SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO SAID REAR WALL, SAID INTERMEDIATE DIVIDER, SAID SHELVES AND SAID DIVIDER FORMING A PLURALITY OF COMPARTMENTS ACCESSIBLE 